Monthly Archives: November 2007

If theres anywhere in particular you’d like to see the cost of airfare and lodgings to as well as the local attractions, leave a comment stating the destination of your choice and I’ll throw it in the lot. If theres a particular time frame that you have in mind for this destination, include that as well. If no time frame is indicated, I’ll use a default setting of six to eight weeks out.

I’ve had some great suggestions so far, everything from Austin Texas to Morocco. The lucky destination will be selected by the random number generator.

While I wouldn’t need a whole lot of money to afford the following deal, it the whole “job” thing getting it the way once again.

The Aer Lingus Vacation Store is offering a spectacular deal right now. Book by November 30, and roundtrip airfare to Dublin PLUS four nights at the Regency Hotel, Dublin starts at just $499 + taxes and fees for travel during January or February 2008.

The price of $499 is based on travel out of New York, but the supplemental charges for other cities are still very affordable:
Boston + $30
Washington DC & Chicago +$20
Orlando +$90
Los Angeles & San Francisco +$110

I returned from Italy last week. The experience was beautiful, amazing, and I learned an amazing amount from this trip. I am working on writing up several postings for this trip, so there will be several upcoming articles based upon my experiences last week. But, the two cities I visited, Venice and Florence, were fascinating and I look forward to visiting both places again in the future. Venice was beautiful. We were really only there for one full day though, so there was a lot that I wanted to see and do that we just didn’t have the time for. Everything I’d heard of Venice was that it was a dirty, polluted, smelly city. As a result, I was expecting something incredibly gritty – maybe something like the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, but without all of the crazy homeless people defecating on the sidewalk. I was thinking the sidewalks and alleyways would be strewn with litter and that the canals would be brown. As a result, my expectations for the ambience were so low, that the city almost felt like Disney in comparison – like an area that was kept clean and sanitized to meet tourists standards, but not in an overly pristine and homogenized way like Disney. It was as though the worlds best set designer had been given the keys to Venice and told “Make it look like a beautiful, romantic ideal, but lived in and vibrant”.One of my favorite things to do while I was there was to just start walking around the neighborhoods, wander down the alleys until I either ended up in a residential courtyard, or found my way back to a main street. Watching the locals walk their dogs, hang their laundry out the windows, picking up on the true atmosphere of the locals and immersing myself in the culture is my favorite part of traveling.

Reykjavik has long been on my list of places to visit. I’d like to see the Aurora Borealis, sit in a thermal hot spring.

If only I had more vacation time.

If you happen to live in Baltimore MD, Boston MA, Minneapolis MN, New York (JFK) NY, or Orlando FL, you are in luck. Right now, go-today.com has package getaway to Reykjavik out of these cities starting at $599, plus taxes & fees, that includes both the airfare AND hotel.

The “Trip of the Month” feature is going to have to be pushed out until December.

I’m in the midst of preparing for my trip to Italy next week and have not been able to research the first trip of the month as extensively as I would like to. However, this feature will debut on December 3rd. If you’d like to offer a suggestion for the first trip of the month, please indicate the destination of your choice in the comments below, and I will randomly select the location. All suggestions must be received by Monday, November 19th in order to be considered.

In lieu of the “Trip of the Month”, I’m taking this time to announce an airfare deal I just became aware of. TRAVELOCITY is advertising airfares to Ireland, via Aer Lingus, starting at $159 + tax.

These prices are one-way and are available out of Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, or Washington D.C. to either Dublin or Shannon for travel by December 31, 2007.

Ireland was my first international trip, and it was wonderful! That was the vacation that opened my eyes to the world and ignited my passion for traveling. If you’re able, I highly suggest taking advantage of this offer.

I’m still fine tuning the way things will process here at Tightwad Tourist, figuring out what will allow me to bring you the most information I can while still allowing me to maintain my day job.

Yep, I have to keep my day job.

My initial goal here is to post articles twice a week

On Mondays I’ll be posting general travel tips on packing, searching for deals, anecdotes from my own adventures, reviews of various places I’ve stayed, interesting destinations, and more.

On Thursdays I’ll share with you deals I’ve come across that week, along with the links to where I found them.

One feature I’m really looking forward to is the “Trip of the Month”. On the first Monday of the month, I’ll post a featured destination and include the costs for airfare, hotel, as well as some of the activities and attractions in that area. I’m really looking forward to debuting this feature this coming Monday, November 5.

If you’d like to me on my email list to receive alerts as to whenever a new post is up, please comment below and I’ll add you to my list.